San Diego Cruises Past Pacific

The San Diego Toreros used more of their recent hot shooting and stout defense to cruise past the Pacific Tigers 68-48 on Thursday in San Diego. With the win, the Toreros have won five of their last six games and have climbed to .500 in conference play for the first time this season.

November 28, 2014; Fullerton, CA, USA; San Diego Toreros guard Duda Sanadze (10) moves to the basket against Princeton Tigers during the first half at Titan Gym. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

San Diego again suffered from a lack of team effort, but they benefited from another cold shooting night by the Tigers. Johnny Dee led the effort with a game-high 21 points. Duda Sanadze had a season-high 20 points in just 19 minutes, an encouraging sign for the junior. Sanadze was a key fixture during a breakout debut season last year, but injuries and a slow start have rendered him ineffective most of this season.

Chris Anderson looks fully recovered from his sprained ankle that caused him to miss one game last week. He had a game-high 9 assists, more than the entire Pacific roster who mustered just 7 assists. The Tigers struggled all night shooting just 34.5% from field goal range and 25% from three. This was in contrast to the Toreros who shot 49% and 45% respectively.

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T.J. Wallace had a team-high 11 points for Pacific. Ray Bowles was the only other Tiger in double figures. He had 10 points. Gabriel Aguirre had 8 points, and no other Tiger had more than 5 points. The normally reliable Dulani Robinson had just 5 points in 15 minutes. With the defense failing to slow down the red hot Toreros, nothing went right in this one for the Tigers leaving them little chance of a road upset.

The Tigers drop to 10-15 overall and 2-11 in WCC play with the loss. They have now lost 6 in a row and remain in last place in the conference. The Toreros meanwhile continue their second half surge. They improve to 14-12 overall and 7-7 WCC play. They now have sole possession of 5th place in the standings.

Pacific remains on the road heading to Provo to face BYU. They swap places with Saint Mary’s who lost in Provo on Thursday and will head into San Diego to face the Toreros on Saturday. The Toreros will be heavily challenged to keep their hot streak going in their final stretch of the regular season. After facing the 2nd place Gaels on Saturday, they face road games at BYU and Gonzaga next week.

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